Draining the Battery
by Lady Lylia
Summary: The crew of the Neb half a decade after where the movie left off. I only own OCs and the plot, don't sue! (But tell me, someone, anyone, who I can kill to make Neo mine! Mwa ha ha ha!)
1. Getting to Know You

The streets were dark, empty. The street lamps gave off a faint yellowed light, and they were too few and far between to do anything but add to the shadows. In those shadows, seven walked.  
  
There were two who led. Neo and Trinity were the ultimate pair. Their identical trenchcoats rippled as they walked in the same pattern. They did not need to speak, for the bond between them was perfect. Their senses were finely tuned, both to the Matrix and to each other.  
  
Close behind them were Sox and Flare. Sox was a red-head in her late teens that Neo and Trinity had picked up three years ago, who had a mild obsession with striped knee sox. She was, of course, wearing a pair now, the black and white horizontal stripes that covered her shins gave her comfort in some insane way. Sox was known both for her temper and for her talent with the twin-pistols form of combat.  
  
If Sox was fire, Flare was ice. He was older, in his thirties, and clearly dedicated to his work. He had been recruited for the Neb nearly a year ago, switching from a boon-dock outpost to the heart of the battle. He was a trained medic, both for in the Matrix and in the real world, and he had deadly accuracy with a rifle. He was thin and wiry, with yellow-tinted glasses that gave him a constant link up with Tank and Dag back on the Neb.  
  
Right on their heels was Kat. Kitti-Kat, as they nicknamed her, was the tomboy, the girl wearing a black baseball cap over her twin sandy pigtails. Of all the histories of the Neb's crew, Kat's was one of the worst. Her older brother, Mouse, had served with Neo and Trinity and the rest a few years back, only to get killed by a rogue member of the crew. Strangely enough, Mouse's little sister followed in his footsteps, and Trinity and Neo snatched her up the first chance they got. Her black leather jacket hid several dozen rounds of ammunition, and despite her little girl appearance she knew exactly how to load and fire the semi- automatic she was holding.  
  
The last two were Psi and Gunner. Psi was the shrimp of the team, only a single handgun on his belt. He didn't need guns. Neo had known Psi for years, for he had been in the Oracle's care since long before he made his first visit to her. That little boy who could bend spoons had come a long way, and he was now in his teens. Psi couldn't quite bend the code like Neo could, but he still knew how to read it, see what was going on. Enough to recognize agents as they were forming. That was his job, to get the agents before they became unstoppable by everyone BUT Neo.  
  
In turn, it was Gunner's job to protect Psi. The little middle- Eastern guy had next to nothing in the way of physical power, and Gunner more than made up for it. He was the big black guy, the one who loved automatic weapons and the strangely addictive grey gunk that everyone on the Neb jokingly called 'coffee'. His minimalistic dark-hued pants and muscle shirt made sure everyone saw his rippling biceps. Even as Gunner walked down the street, he constantly turned to walk backwards, gazing at every nook and cranny of the deserted street. He was rear guard as well, and he knew it.  
  
The still night air was pierced by a ringing sound. Neo and Trinity both instantly flipped open their cell phones. Neo held the phone to his face with one hand, a firearm in the other. Trinity was similarly cautious, her eyes scanning the street.  
  
Tank's voice was on the other end. "He's on 42nd and 8th."  
  
"Any agents coming?" she asked, both to the Neb's skeleton crew and to Psi.  
  
Psi shook his head, "Not yet."  
  
"Not that we can see," Dag affirmed. Dag was Tank's assistant, a Zion- born code reader. "I'll let you know if I spot one, of course."  
  
"Of course," Neo agreed. "Team, let's move. Morpheus is waiting." 


	2. Are You Ready?

The team silently crisscrossed the city streets, lurking in the shadows. Even Psi in his cream-colored robes seemed to blend in with the night. Neo and Trinity both held cell phones to their ears with one hand, aimed guns at the night air with the other.  
  
As they reached the street, the team fanned out into a V behind Neo. Trinity and Psi were on his heels, and the other four were right behind. Neo was proud of his team, he thought to himself. They may have been only kids, but they were still dangerous, every one of them. Each and every one was completely silent. If he hadn't been certain they were following, he would never have known anyone was there. Neo knew the skills they had, at bending and breaking the rules of the Matrix, at using those guns they all toted so eagerly. They had to work for those skills, and they had achieved them, and Neo felt a fatherly pride towards them all for his part in it.  
  
"We're on the street. Where to from here?" Neo whispered into the phone. "Agents?" Trinity added, practically mouthing the word.  
  
Psi shook his head, knew better than to speak, but it was Tank who answered on the other end of the line. "No agents, right now anyway. Brick apartment complex on your right, Neo. Apartment 12-A."  
  
Dag added, "Be careful. There may not be agents, but there's seven potentials in that building alone."  
  
Trinity and Neo exchanged a glance. When the Matrix had been created, it would have consumed too much time and effort to make every human's digital body capable of being transformed easily into an agent. Because of this, only about five percent were capable of turning into an agent in mere seconds. Any human could be altered to become a potential, as the aware humans called them, but making the necessary adjustments were difficult and took several minutes.  
  
Even so, seven potentials in one building, the same building as their target, was not good. Not good at all. There was a strong possibility that the Matrix was already onto them if there were this many of them with their target. No, definitely not good at all. Trinity leaned over, rested her hand on Psi's shoulder, and whispered the new-found knowledge in his ear. She didn't tell the rest of the team. There was no need, the fact that Trinity was whispering to Psi told them all they needed to know.  
  
Neo whirled around, turned to face his team. Every one of them was looking at him, wary of their surroundings but trusting completely in him. They always trusted in him, always trusted in The One. Neo wanted to laugh at that, but they needed a hero, and that hero happened to be him. Wonder if they knew that even HE needed a hero, Neo thought wryly to himself as he gazed fondly at his merry band.  
  
"Okay, guys. You know the drill. We go in there, get our man out, and then high-tail it to our base, take a pill, and call home." Everyone chuckled silently at their leader's choice of words. It wasn't really funny, it was just that they all knew what was coming, and the new guy wouldn't. They all remembered when Morpheus popped The Question to them, and they all had given the same answer. Now, it was the new guy's turn. But first, they had to get him out of this apartment complex.  
  
"Ready?" Neo asked. The team nodded once, in perfect sync, and raised their weapons at the same time. This was the bond they all shared, their minds linked by a shared lifestyle, a joint cause, an identical dream. They were going to save humanity, one person at a time. Today was just another check on the list. "Then let's move!" 


	3. Up the Stairs

Neo ascended the few, short steps slowly. "Tank, give Flare the blueprint. We're going in." He whirled when he reached the door, faced Flare. The slender Asian man nodded slowly as the specs on the building were downloaded to his yellow-tinted glasses. Neo nodded in reply. "Tell Morpheus we're getting him now," he said, clipping the phone to his belt. Then he turned around and twisted the doorknob.  
  
The team burst into the corridor. Flare said softly, "Fourth floor, stairs dead ahead," and they quickly, silently moved towards the staircase. Neo led, with Flare and  
  
Psi beside him. Trinity and Gunner followed them, and Sox and Kat brought up the rear, moving backwards.  
  
Flare added as they ascended the steps, "we have to cross the second floor to make it to the staircase going to the third, same thing for getting to the fourth floor."  
  
"Bull," Neo whispered in reply. The building design was not in his favor. He had to do probably double the distance. "What about the windows?"  
  
Flare shook his head, "all the windows are barred. Not the nice end of town."  
  
They made it halfway across the second story hallway before the attack came. Psi was the first to notice, firing a shot to kill the nice old lady carrying her groceries. "A potential," he whispered. The face morphed into the familiar cold lines of an agent's face before settling back into a kindly grandmother's expression again.  
  
As he spoke, another door opened, an agent. Neo cursed even as he flew at the agent, Trinity hot on his heels. When they fought, it was simple: Neo got the agents, Trinity guarded his back.  
  
"Hello, Missster Anderson," the agent said smugly, just in time to have Neo wave his hand and delete the codes that specified it had legs. The arms followed, and what was left of the agent toppled over.  
  
"Run!" Neo said, a few decibels short of a shout, and the team obeyed. Neo and Trinity led, followed by Gunner and Psi, then everyone else. Neo half ran backwards, making sure his whole team was there. He saw Gunner's dark grey muscle shirt, Psi's creme robes, Flare's yellow glasses, Sox's namesake accessories, Kat's black baseball cap. And of course, Trinity was there, right beside him. She was always right beside him. He gave her a faint smile as he ran up the stairs to the third floor.  
  
There were three agents waiting on the third floor. Psi practically flew to the back of the team, while Gunner hesitantly followed. Much as the big black muscle man loved a good fight, he didn't want to get himself killed, not today. Flare, Kat, and Sox followed. Only two people of the seven on the team had a chance of beating even one agent in actual combat. Neo and Trinity stepped forward.  
  
"Hello, Missster Anderson," all three said in unison. Then, they raised their handguns. Time froze, if only for an instant. The room was silent, still. No one moved, no one spoke. Then the dam in time broke with one blow: Neo's laughter.  
  
He laughed jovially, even as the sound of three guns firing filled the air, and only then did he fly into action. He held out a hand and the bullets froze in midair before falling, useless, to the ground.  
  
Then, Neo and Trinity both leapt at the three agents. The two, friends, coworkers, sparring partners, and lovers, stood back to back in the center of three agents. Neo swiftly knocked the gun out of one agent's hand, then whirled in the same motion to take on the other two at once. Trinity smiled at his macho behavior even as she began a long series of spinning kicks to the head at the remaining agent, and action which required her spinning on the ball of one foot as she kicked. She got off about a kick every two seconds, which wasn't enough to do real damage. Instead, it distracted and infuriated the agent, keeping its attention on her and pushing it far enough away to prevent any real harm to her, at least temporarily.  
  
Neo used his ability to rewrite the code again on one agent while he gave a flying kick-and-punch combo to the other. Even as one agent fell to the ground, Neo was starting to move faster than the eye could follow. The other agent began to punch him. Neo actually gave the impression of focusing on blocking for a second or two, before becoming bored with the charade and instead blocking with one hand even as he rewrote the code on the agent Trinity was fighting.  
  
Trinity, who had been using the kicks as a source of balance, shot him a mock glare as she began to tumble out of control. Neo caught her in one arm even as he smashed his hand into the face of the sole remaining agent. Taking advantage of having the woman he loved bent over backwards, he grinned. "We should get into these situations more often," he whispered in her ear, kissing her and pulling her to her feet simultaneously.  
  
The girls laughed gently, the boys quietly clapped, and Trinity's pale face flushed slightly. Neo grinned, and pointed his gun at the next stairway.  
  
The team followed behind their leader, and they moved up the steps together. "There should only be two more potentials," Neo whispered to Trinity and Psi. "I'm sure they've transformed by now, but watch out." They all nodded. "Ready, team?" Neo added, receiving six more nods in response. "Then let's go!" He kicked in the door.  
  
Before them stood over a dozen agents. "Ohhhh shit!" Psi whispered, and then only the wind on the windows deigned to fill the silence. 


End file.
